That would be awesome but the only thing that would be hard about that is that no one even knows what the Silmarillion is (Except the brilliant people on this forum) I have to constantly teach people what the Silmarillion is and that it was the first book that was based in Middle-Earth. So it would be hard to get the attention of the people. The only way I could see this being popular is if The Hobbit is a complete success and people just go see it because they liked LOTR and The Hobbit and because they know who Peter Jackson is. But I think it would be awesome and agree with your three choices.

well lets take it as a given the films will be great ,and that theyll make a ton of money, the film studios will surely demand more films!!

considering there is so much more source material in the silmarillion thats not been touched, you could even have dare i say it , bilbo reading the stories ( the films) to young hobbits to incorparate him in somehow! just an idea.

you could get different directors in to suit each film, im sure pj would have had enough of it by now! ;)

Atleast Children of Hurin, was my favourite of the tales (the book itself)
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I guess you can count it in, there was a bit of it in silmarillion. Anywsys the darkness and misery in it is just so poetic and would make a (atleast a diffrent kind of) great movie, although the sort of self-repeating series of failures and bad luck might make it boring, it would need a bit of editing... But just think about a whole movie like the Alan Lee's cover on the book, no eye-hurting oversaturated colors, so melancholic and cold... I like. Pessimists have no disappointments.

Fall of Gondolin - Beren and Luthien - Turin Turambar (which I believe will be hinted at in the Hobbit movie) - Feanor/Kin-Slaying. I can see it all being made into films over the years. Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste (or foretaste) of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man's heart desires.

They work perfectly well as standalone stories. But they're also connected enough to make a nice trilogy of sorts.

I don't expect it to happen anytime soon, but I would love it. "...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales

... the rights to The Silmarillion, or The Children of Hurin for example, are currently owned by the Tolkien Estate.

I'm not sure how Christopher Tolkien is being characterized with respect to The Silmarillion and copyright (as an 'author' or 'co-author' maybe?), but I think anything he published from 1977 and afterward will probably have to await entering the public domain in any case, as it seems unlikely that he will sell the film rights...

But I don't think the Tolkien Estate will sell the film rights. "...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales

I think most of The Silmarillion just isn't suitable for film. It's too much like history. It works better as a series of images in one's head (at least, for me it does).

But I do think some of the later stories are very well-suited for individual films. CoH specifically. It's already been published as a short novel. So for one, it's film rights would probably be separate from Silmarillion film rights. And also, it's easily a very moving and compelling story, even without a firm background of Silmarillion material. I think with the right director and writer, it could be a wonderful film.

The last thing I want, though, is for someone to start churning out ME films solely to cash in on an established franchise. That would be awful. "...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales

what about unfinished tales? have the film rights been sold for these? if they havnt then i guess that means any extra story arcs or backstory in the hobbit can only be derived from the appendices of the lord of the rings.. thats a legal headache i wouldnt want to deal with!

its a sad fact that money will always dictate what films get made , sometimes for the good and bad!

i do disagree though, in many ways i think stories from the silmarillion have less baggage and imagery associated with them than say the hobbit, which would make for a more believable viewing experience ( like when they use unknown actors, it always seems better )

when i first saw lotr it was too much seeing elijah wood as frodo, because i knew frodo in my mind and illustratins and elijah wood from other films so well it just didnt seem believable in the end!

I still find myself bemused that people kid themselves a Silmarillion film would in any way resemble the book...and I'm not sure how a 32,000 year long creation myth without hobbits or Gandalf would find a marketing hook... ‘As they came to the gates Cirdan the Shipwright came forth to greet them. Very tall he was, and his beard was long, and we was grey and old, save that his eyes were keen as stars; and he looked at them and bowed, and said ‘All is now ready.’

are still held by the Tolkien Estate, as far as I have heard. Although, there was speculation at one point that PJ may have come to an agreement with the Tolkien Estate to use "The Quest of Erebor" material. Whether that ever happened, I don't know.

I still hold, though, that The Silmarillion is better as a book, because Tolkien's use of language creates an image in your head for certain passages, but that it still reads very much like a history, not a novel. I'll give an example.

This is from chapter 24 Of the Voyage of Earendil and the War of Wrath:

"But at the last the might of Valinor came up out of the West, and the challenge of the trumpets of Eonwe filled the sky; and Beleriand was ablaze with the glory of their arms, for the host of the Valar were arrayed in forms young and fair and terrible, and the mountains rang beneath their feet."

It's an absolutely stunning passage, and it creates a magnificent image of splendour and power beyond belief. But it's difficult to see it acted out. It reads very much like a history, or even the Bible. Trying to transpose this to film would be, I think, a disaster. There's just no way to do this prose justice. And since most of the book is written in a similar fashion, I don't think it could be satisfactorily made into a film. "...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales

There's just no way to bring the rich language to life. And I think the prose is a major part of the appeal of The Silmarillion (and probably also one of the biggest turn-offs). "...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales

he must have becuase in lotr appendix there is actually very little to go regarding extra material for that time period in the hobbit! and with the best will inthe world, when you start making stuff up and not using source material, thats when its gonna go wrong!

your probably right, and yes there are some hugely epic monents that would be hard to do, im just a sucker for the imagery and good cgi dragon or two! god imagine a host of balrogs and dragons attacking gondolin in the cinema, thats the sort of experience id pay to see lol

between making up material willy-nilly and adapting from source material. I don't think PJ and co. necessarily used the Unfinished Tales. I'm just saying it was rumored at one point. "...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales

... in his recent interview I doubt he even considered selling the rights to The Quest of Erebor or anything else.

To my knowledge the filmmakers have not (at least yet) claimed that they even asked for the rights to this text, or anything from Unfinished Tales. They are fleshing out history gleaned from the Appendices as far as I know, and only have the film rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the film rights to these both being sold long ago now.

When The Children of Hurin was published the Estate commented that no film is being considered (it was still on their website last time I looked, in one of their FAQs).